Duke  University  Libraries 

Message  of  the 
Conf  Pam  #300 


'^^v^'r 


SENATE,  January  26,  18G5.— Made  special   order  for  Saturday 
next,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


JVIESSAGE   OF   THE   PRESIDENT, 

Returning  the  bill  (S.  130)  to  authorize  newspapers  to  be  mailed  to 
Boldiers  free  of  postage,  with  hie  objections. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  : 

I  return  to  your  honorable  body,  without  my  approval,  an  act 
which  originated  in  the  Senate,  entitled  "An  act  to  authorise  news- 
papers to  be  mailed  to  soldiers  free  of  postage."' 

The  act  provides  "that  all  newspapers  mailed  to  any  officer,  mu- 
sician or  private,  engaged  in  the  actual  service  of  the  Confederate 
States,  may  be  transmitted  through  the  mails  free  of  postage." 

The  Constitution,  art.  1,  sec.  8,  clause  7,  gives  power  to  Congress 
♦'to  establish  post  offices  and  post  routes :  but  the  expenses  of  the 
Post  Office  Department  after  the  first  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  eighteen  huidred  and  sixty  three,  shall  be  paid  out  of  its 
own  revenues." 

This  provision  that  the  Post  Office  Department  shall  be  self-sus- 
taining, was  n©t  contained  in  the  Constitution  of  our  former  govern- 
ment. It  is  important  that  its  spirit  and  object  should  be  correctly 
determined  now,  because  many  members  of  the  present  Congress 
were  also  members  of  the  Provisiomal  Congress  which  adopted  this 
new  clause,  and  legislation  by  them  will  be  deemed  hereafter  to 
possess  peculiar  value  as  a  precedent  and  as  a  coteraporaneous  in- 
terpretation of  the  Constitution  by  thosje  best  acquainted  with  its 
meaning. 

It  was  generally  understood  that  the  clause  under  consideration 
was  intended  by  its  framers  to  correct  what  was  deemed  to  be  two 
great  vices  that  had  been  developed  in  the  postal  system  of  the 
United  States.  The  first  was,  the  injustice  of  taxing  the  whole  peo- 
ple for  the  expense  of  the  mail  facilities  afforded  to  individuals, 
and  the  remedy  devised  was  to  limit  the  government  to  the  furnisk- 
ing  of  the  machinery  for  carrying  the  mails,  and  compelling  those 
who  might  use  the  facilities  thus  furnished  to  pay  the.  expense 
thereof. 

The  second  evil  against  which  this  clause  was  intended  as  a  safe- 
guard, was  the  wasteful  extravagance  which  grew  out  of  its  franking. 5^; 
privilege,  with  its  attendant  abuses  of  large  contracts  for  stationery,   ■^;^ 
printing,  binding,  (fee., and  increase. I  goverument    patronage  with  its  ■^''X 
train  of  corrupting  influences. 


With  this  kcowledge'  of  t^e  purpose  of  the  framers  of  the*Cf  jh^  . 
stitution,  and  of  ihe  evils  a^iainst  which  they  intended  to'provide  nr*  , 
the  clause  under  coDsideratiiu.  I  cannot  escape  the  conclusion  that  to 
authorise  the  tianrjmission  of  any  mailmatter  f •  ce  of  postage,  is  to 
violate  the  true  intent  and  moanini?  of  the  (Jor.stitution. 

If  the  act  now  before  me  nhould  become  a  law,  the  Post  Master 
Gtneral  would  l)e  bound  to  pav  lailroads  and  other  carriers  for  con- 
vening newppHpers  to  the  armies  without  reimbursement  from  any 
-source  wliatever.  He  rould  not  be  paid  out  of  the  general  Treas- 
ury without  a  violation  of  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  ;  nor  out  of 
the  other  revenues  of  his  Department,  without,  in  effect,  imposing 
on  those  who  pay  for  carrying  their  own  correspondence,  an  addi- 
tional ch!.rge  to'defray  the  cost  of  carrying  newspapers  for  others. 
If  it  be  competent  for  Congress,  under  this  clause,  to  order  new*?- 
papers  to  be  carried  free  of  postage,  the  power  exists  to  order  the 
free  transmission  of  any  other  mail-matter.  But  we  must  ever  re- 
member that  Congress  can  exercise  no  implied  powers— certainly 
none  not  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  the  powers  expressly  granted: 
and  where  shall  we  find  in  the  Constitution,  any  power  in  the  Con- 
federate government,  express  or  implied,  for  dividing  either  the 
people  or'^the  public  servants  into  classes  unequally  burthened  with 
postal  charges  ? 

In  that  part  of  the  CoDPtitution  which  specially  treats  of  the  bur- 
then of  taxation,  every  precaution  has  been  taken  to  secure  uniform- 
itv  and  to  o-uard  against  bounties  or  preferences  of  any  kind,  and 
aUbough  not  directly  applicable  to  the  subject  of  postage,  the  spirit  of 
the  whole  provision  is  so  opposed  to  inequality  in  legislation,  that 
the  passage  may  well  serve  for  illustration.  The  first  clause  of  art. 
1  sec.  8,  gives  to  Congress  the  power  "to  lay  and  collect  duties,  im- 
posts and  excises  for^revenue  necessary  to  pay  ihe  debts,  provide 
for  the  common  defence,  and  carry  on  the  government  of  the  Con- 
federate States :  but  no  bounties  shall  be  granted  from  the  Treasu- 
ry •  nor  phall  any  duties  or  taxes  on  importations  from  foreign  na- 
tiOLS  be  laid  to  promote  or  foster  any  branch  of  industry ;  and  all 
duties,  imposts  and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  Con- 
federate States."  . 

It  is  true  that  the  payment  of  postage  is  not  properly  a  tax,  but 
compensation  for  service  rendered ;  yet  it  would  scarcely  be  ingen- 
uous to  deny  that  so  to  regulate  the  rates  of  postage  as  to  produce 
an  excess  of  receipts  over  expenses  of  carrying  mail- matter  for  one 
class  and  to  use  this  excess  in  order  to  carry  free  of  cost  the  mail- 
matter  for  another  class,  would  strongly  conflict  with  the  just  equal- 
ity of  privileges  and  burthens  which  the  above  cited  clauses  were 
desio"ned  to  secure. 

I  regret  to  be  compelled  to  object  to  a  measure  devised  by  Con- 
gress for  the  benefit  or  relief  of  the  army,  but  with  my  convictions 
^Ti  flip  ^ubiect.  it  is  not  possible  to  approve  the  act  now  before  me. 
^^  ^  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Richmond,  Va.,  January  25,  1865. 


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